


We Were Raised on Broken Bones & Bloodstained Teeth

by Seven_Shades_of_A



Series: Time to Grow Up [1]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Character Study, Coming Out, Non-binary character, Post-Op, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Trans Hux, binders, mute character, teenage Hux
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-21
Updated: 2016-04-21
Packaged: 2018-06-03 14:11:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6613726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seven_Shades_of_A/pseuds/Seven_Shades_of_A
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a short skirmish with a few Resistance soldiers, Hux finds that one of the soldiers under his command is not so invincible as he had half-believed. And some secrets cannot be kept. Some are meant to be shared.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Were Raised on Broken Bones & Bloodstained Teeth

**Author's Note:**

> This is short of a little drabble from an idea I've been toying with since watching TFA. I may or may not continue to write what happens before or after this but, for now, I'm just seeing how the characters work together.  
> Trans!Hux because I headcanon him as trans. If you don't like it, there are plenty of cis!Hux stories out there.  
> Apologies ahead of time if there are any grammatical errors. This is more of a free-writing exercise than an actual fic. But I'd like to share it with you anyway - see how you readers see Zero and Hux.
> 
> (This takes place before TFA, in the years shortly after Hux graduated from the Academy. His current rank is up to your discretion.)

Hux fell back against the wall the second Enri walked out, letting his collected facade fall in a way he could only ever do around Zero. He pushed his hair back from his face with a sigh, glancing at them out the corner of his eyes, and caught the sight of Zero pulling their hand away from their side to find their fingers red with blood. It was an oddly satisfying sight. He had begun to wonder if they were incapable of being wounded, as ridiculous as he knew that seemed. He pushed himself off the wall, motioning for them to follow him as he walked towards the medical bay.

He heard the telltale sound off them tapping a sentence into their SGD. Not long after they’d first met, he had grown tired of trying to determine what they were trying to say, as facial expressions and animated pointed could only go so far, and ordered a custom SGD for them. Set into gauntlet-like gloves, they allowed Zero to tap dadita into the touchpad in the palm which would be translated into a digitized recording of the voice Hux had specifically picked out for them. The first couple weeks with the SGD had been slow learning, and he had learned to order the device in both gloves after one particularly nasty mission landed them with a broken one, but know Zero could tap out a reply quicker than most people could speak. They were always a quick learner.

" **It’s just a scratch,** " they said. " **I’ll be fine.** "

“You’ll be fine when I patch you up.” - the second he heard their fingers slide across the touchpad, he snapped out - “That was an order, not a suggestion.”

Zero gave a soft huff, which Hux took as an irritated ‘fuck you’. He didn’t bother to reprimand them. It wasn't as if he didn’t partially understand where they were coming from, as he himself had grown up to somewhat resent needed the help of others, though they could be a bit more gracious given how he always made certain they didn’t feel incompetent for needing help.

“Sit,” he said, motioning towards the cot as they walked into the medbay.

Zero didn’t move, tapping out the message, " **I can take care of it myself.** "

“Yes, but it’s always good to have a second pair of eyes on it, especially at that angle” he pointed out. “Now sit.”

They did as he said, pushing themself onto the cot with very little effort. He rolled his eyes as they sat there, staring at him with an expression that clearly asked ‘are you happy now?’, and didn’t bother to remove any of their clothing.

“How am I supposed to check your wound if you’re wrapped up in four fucking shirts?” he snapped.

" **They’re not just shirts,** " they retorted.

If their SGD had been able to read the implied tone in their voice, Hux was certain he could’ve heard Zero rolling their eyes in their words. As it was, the pre-recorded voice came out without inflection or emotion, but he turned just in time to see them do so anyway. Their expressions and body language were often more important to reading their mood than the words they said. And Hux had gotten very good at reading them over the years.

There was a stiffness in their actions as they shrugged the coat off their shoulders. At first glance, Hux would have guessed that it was just the pain of the injury, but that didn’t entirely make sense. He had seen Zero get hurt in several situations, and they had a very high tolerance for pain. No. This was something else entirely. This was reluctance.

They draped their coat over the empty half of the cot, unlatching the durasteel cuirass  and gorget they always wore on away missions next. It was joined by their hauberk and pixane of Mandalorian iron and a black tunic that was made of light material. It wasn’t until Hux turned around, having carted the medical droid over, that he noticed what else they were wearing. There was something off-white wrapped around the top half of Zero’s torso.

Their jaw was clenched, their eyes staring ahead almost stubbornly, but there was also something unreadable in their expression. He approached the cot slowly, hyperaware of every micro-expression and small shift they made. They looked a bit like an animal on edge. Granted, Zero looked that way during most fights, but he wasn’t planning on attacking them anytime soon. He ran his fingertips over the cloth, noting how it was wound around their torso several times over, as he walked around to the side of their wound. Every muscle in Zero’s shoulders and arms tensed under his touch.

The cloth was soaked with blood, the red turning brown as it dried against their skin. He couldn’t see the wound itself, the edges of the cloth strips to frayed around the edges for him to make out how bad it was, and he slowly ripped on of the strips. Zero whipped around and grabbed ahold of his wrist in the span of a heartbeat. Their hazel eyes met his, showing anger and the slightest hint of fear, but he met the now black irises unflinchingly.

“I can’t see how bad it is with this on,” he explained slowly. “I have to take this off if I’m going to treat it.”

They hesitantly let go of his wrist, turning to face the forward wall once more, but never actually taking their eyes off of him. Hux continued to tear the strips of cloth, wrinkling his nose at the smell of blood and dried sweat that seemed to have permeated the cloth. He found medical tape keeping it together as he ripped through it further.

He knew what it was. Hux had done the same thing for years before he had managed to buy a binder. It still didn’t make it any less nauseating, especially given what he knew happened when one used bandages and tape for too long. There were already splotches of mottled purple, blue, and yellow blooming like flowers across their skin beneath the white. Bruised ribs, caused by constant compression paired with the physical exertion of the fight.

“This is unacceptable,” he told them, holding up the ripped bandages so Zero could see them. “You understand that, yes?”

" **I hardly see how it’s any of your business,** " they said, their expression hard even without ever meeting his eyes.

“It’s dangerous and unhygienic, placing you into needless danger,” he snapped. “You’re my responsibility, making your safety one of my top priorities, and I will not have my men get themselves killed due to reckless behavior.”

This time, Zero did meet his eyes. They were dark, angered, and disbelieving - a storm barely contained beneath a cold surface.

" **It’s a personal matter that has nothing to do with my performance.** "

Hux pressed hard against one of the darker bruises, expecting Zero to grimace or gasp at the pain, but they gave him no response. He stared at them for a good minute, trying to determine if there were any micro-expressions that would give away what they might have been feeling. It wasn’t, after all, the first time someone would have tried to hide pain or weakness from him. But there was nothing in Zero’s expression that so much as gave away that they may have felt any discomfort.

“It has everything to do with your performance,” he said, pulling the last of the fabric and tape away. “These bandages don’t allow for enough freedom of movement and constrict breath too much during combat. It may not hinder your abilities now, but it will.”

Zero’s fingers twitched towards their touchpad, as though they wanted to say something sharp in response, but obviously thought better of it. They tensed even further as he brushed his fingertips against their chest to further inspect the wound in their side, his face only inches from their skin.

Their skin was far from smooth. There was a latticework of scars - some thick and jagged, some thin and fine and obviously healed with a bacta patch, some puckered and red like recent burns - that reached over their skin and overlapped in areas. Hux had to refrain from tracing the path of some of them, forcing himself to focus on the wound.

It was relatively clean, only looking worse than it actually was. Once he had cleaned it off substantially, ignoring Zero as they seemed to grow more rigid by the second, it was nothing more than a standard blaster wound. He pulled a bacta patch from the medkit and taped it over the wound. It wouldn’t be that long before it healed. Of course, if they decided to keep wearing similar bandages, Hux knew it would take much longer.

“Relax,” he told them with a sigh. “You’re only going to hurt yourself further if you keep yourself that tense.”

Zero’s expression was unreadable as usual, but that didn’t mean Hux didn’t know exactly what they were thinking. He didn’t need to be Force sensitive to know that.

Standing up and wiping his hands off on a sterile towel nearby, Hux walked towards one of the compartments, one he hadn’t opened in years. There was a soft sound of feet hitting the floor and he glanced over his shoulder to see that Zero was pulling their shirt back on, tugging their coat around as if trying to find the best way to hide their figure beneath it.

“Wait a minute,” Hux called to them.

They didn’t make another move, though they looked generally uncomfortable being asked to remain in the room with him. Hux rifled through the objects in the drawers, pushing away the trivial objects on the top, until he found what he was looking for buried in the bottom. It was still clean, folded neatly where he had left it years before he met Zero.

In one swift movement, Hux stood up and tossed the object to Zero. They caught it effortlessly, their movements quick and fluid as per usual, but stared at him as though waiting for him to explain. He motioned for them to take a better look at it and they did.

“It’s a binder,” he said in answer of their confused expression. “You’re roughly the same build I was, so it should fit. If it doesn’t, let me know, we’ll a new one for you. I find it easier to pull it on from the waist-up, but that’s a personal preference. Try not to wear it for more than eight hours.”

Zero looked down at the binder and back up at Hux, typing out a quick message on their SGD.

" **Why are you giving me this? Where did you get this?** "

Hux shrugged off his own coat, tossing it onto on of the chairs nearby, before undoing his belt. He noted how Zero seemed to shift into a subtly defensive stance as he did so and filed the thought away for later. As it was, he remained exactly where he stood, his belt joining  his coat on the chair. He unzipped his tunic, letting the sides of it fall loose as he pulled his black undershirt up just enough so they could see his own chest.

Zero immediately turned their eyes downwards towards his chest, placing the binder down as they walked towards Hux. Their fingers were cold as they traced over the now pale, thin lines that followed the dip of his pectorals, causing Hux to bite back a shudder at the touch. He normally didn’t tell people his secret, much less show them his scars from his operation, but Zero was different.

Their expression was unguarded for the first time since he had met them. There was a softness in their eyes for once, a curiosity that was so raw and surprised that it almost made Hux ache. They reminded him too much of himself in that moment, taking him back to a time he didn’t want to remember. They straightened up a second later, although it didn’t make much of a difference given their height difference.

" **You’re trans, too.** "

Even with the bland voice of the SGD, Hux could see the quiet relief in their dark eyes. Letting his undershirt fall back into place, he zipped up his tunic and reached for his belt and coat, replacing them as quickly as he had removed them.

“Remember what I said about the binder - and don’t let me catch you using bandages again. Have I made myself clear?”

Their neutral expression slipped back into place, but Hux couldn’t miss their small smile as they said, " **Yes, sir.** "


End file.
